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The Mongol Empire. Andrew Li Period 4. The Mongol Empire. The Mongol Empire (1206–1368) was the largest contiguous (the land stretched uninterrupted by borders or stretches of water) land empire in world history ruling 35 million km² (13.8 million miles²).

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The Mongol Empire was founded by Genghis Khan, born with the name Temüjin (was a renowned 13th century Mongol military leader and a conqueror] known for his exceptional military and fear-inducing military campaigns. He was the founder and Great Khan (Emperor) of the Mongol Empire, the largest contiguous empire, from 1206 until his death in Autumn 1227.

The Pax Mongolica or "Mongol Peace" is a phrase made by western scholars to describe the effect of the conquest of the Mongol Empire on the social, cultural and economic life of the inhabitants in the 13th and 14th centuries.

It was said a naked maiden could ride the length of the Empire without fear of molestation, so thoroughly had the Mongols intimidated the peoples under their control.

The conquests of Genghis Khan effectively connected the Eastern world with the Western world for the first time, ruling a territory from Southeast Asia to Europe. The Silk Road, connecting trade centers across Asia and Europe, came under the sole rule of the Mongol Empire. The term Pax Mongolica is used to describe the eased communication and commerce it helped to create.

1206: By this year, Temujin from the Orkhon Valley dominated Mongolia and received the title Genghis Khan, thought to mean Oceanic Ruler or Firm, Resolute Ruler

1207: The Mongols began operations against the Western Xia, which comprised much of northwestern China and parts of Tibet. This campaign lasted until 1210 with the Western Xia ruler submitting to Genghis Khan. During this period, the Uighurs also submitted peacefully to the Mongols and became valued administrators throughout the empire.

1211: After a great quriltai or meeting, Genghis Khan led his armies against the Jin Dynasty that ruled northern China.

1219–1222: While the campaign in northern China was still in progress, the Mongols waged a war in central Asia and destroyed the Khwarazmian Empire, killing around 1.5 million of its inhabitants.

1226: Invasion of the Western Xia, being the second battle with the Western Xia.

The Mongol military organization was simple, but effective. The organization was based on an old tradition of the steppe, which was a decimal system: the army was built up from squads of ten men each, called an arban

The forces under the command of the Mongol Empire were generally made for mobility and speed. To maximize mobility, Mongol soldiers were relatively lightly armored compared to many of the armies they faced. In addition, soldiers of the Mongol army functioned independently of supply lines, considerably speeding up army movement.

All military campaigns came after careful planning, inspection, exploration and gathering of sensitive information relating to the enemy territories and forces. The success, organization and mobility of the Mongol armies permitted them to fight on several fronts at once.

The Mongol Empire was governed by a code of law devised by Genghis, called Yassa, meaning "order" or "decree". A particular part of this code was that everyone shared the same hardships. It also imposed severe penalties, e.g. the death penalty was decreed if the mounted soldier following another did not pick up something dropped from the mount in front.

On the whole, the tight discipline made the Mongol Empire extremely safe and well-run; European travelers were amazed by the organization and strict discipline of the people within the Mongol Empire.

Under Yassa, chiefs and generals were selected based on merit, religious tolerance was guaranteed, thievery and vandalizing of civilian property was strictly forbidden. According to legend, a woman carrying a sack of gold could travel safely from one end of the Empire to another.

Mongols prized their commercial and trade relationships with neighboring economies and this policy they continued during the process of their conquests and during the expansion of their empire. All merchants and ambassadors, having proper documentation and authorization, traveling through their realms were protected. This greatly increased overland trade.

During the thirteenth and early fourteenth centuries, European merchants, numbering hundreds, perhaps thousands, made their way from Europe to the distant land of China — Marco Polo is only one of the best known of these.

After Genghis died, it took months for the kurultai to come to the decision that had been almost inevitable from the start — that Genghis' choice as successor, his third son Ögedei, should indeed become Great Khan.

On Ögedei's death in 1241, however, the system started falling apart. His widow Toregene Khatun assumed power and proceeded to ensure the election of her son Guyuk by the kurultai. Batu did not accept Guyuk as Great Khan. Guyuk died in 1248, only two years after his election, on his way west apparently to force Batu to acknowledge his authority

It was Möngke Khan who unwittingly provided his brother Kublai with a chance to become Khan in 1260. Möngke assigned Kublai to a province in North China. Kublai expanded the Mongol empire and became a favorite of Möngke. Kublai's conquest of China is estimated, based on census figures, to have killed over 18 million people.

Kublai Khan or Khubilai Khan or "the last of the great Khans" (1215–1294), Mongol military leader, was Khan (1260–1294) of the Mongol Empire and founder and first Emperor (1279–1294) of the Chinese Yuan Dynasty.

By the reign of Kublai Khan, the empire was already in the process of splitting into a number of smaller khanates [ smaller areas ruled by diff rulers]. After Kublai died in 1294, his heirs failed to maintain the Pax Mongolica and the Silk Road closed.

The four descendant empires were the Mongol-founded Yuan Dynasty in China, the Chagatai Khanate, the Golden Horde that controlled Central Asia and Russia, and the Ilkhans who ruled Persia from 1256 to 1353. Of the latter, their ruler Ilkhan Ghazan was converted to Islam in 1295 and actively supported the expansion of this religion in his empire.